Yesterday we joined Ken Schroeppel, from the Urban and Regional Planning Program at the University of Colorado Denver, on a special tour of Downtown Denver’s oldest and newest districts—LoDo and Union Station.

We learned about the history of Denver's early beginnings as well as the historic preservation and restoration of Lower Downtown's warehouse and mercantile buildings into restaurants, shops, offices, hotels, and residential lofts. This preservation and restoration transformed LoDo into a thriving mixed-use downtown city neighborhood. In addition, we learned more about the development of the the baseball stadium, new transit infrastructures, new parks and plazas, the renovated Denver Union Station, and the $1 billion in new office, hotel, and residential projects that are being developed. This was a part of the Doors Open Denver event that happens next week on April 25 and 26 where Denver buildings open their doors to the public for "exclusive and rare viewing opportunities, exposing the inside of Denver’s unique urban fabric." For more information on the event and tours, visit: http://doorsopendenver.com/ Here are a few photos from our rainy, sunny, cloudy, windy, hot, cold, Colorado Spring day...